Pencil clip



K. T. BLEUER Oct. 20, 1970 PENCIL CLIP \ldOmH dQmH.

m Nom 2/ /////\////w///////w l @o m #Y mom mow m uoom v. UHOm 00m M m n /\oom F .am w mom vom Hom .om oom om\ United States Patent O 3,534,445 PENCIL CLIP Keith T. Bleuer, 1663 Wilshire Drive NE., Rochester, Minn. 55901 Filed Nov. 29, 1968, Ser. No. 780,045 Int. Cl. B43k 25/00 U.S. Cl. 24-11 3 Claims ABSTRACT OF THE DISCLOSURE A pocket clip for a pencil of the type having a rotatable, lead propelling sleeve protruding from a pencil housing, the clip comprising a pair of arms embracing the housing and extending through slots in the housing into a channel in the rotatable sleeve and held in position due to the inherent yieldability of the arms and comprising also a clip portion connected with the arms and extending lengthwise of the pencil housing for extending over the users pocket in which the pencil is carried.

The invention relates to writing instruments and more particularly to pencils.

It is an object of the invention to provide an improved pocket clip for a writing instrument, particularly for a pencil of the type which has a rotatable lead propelling sleeve extending from the housing of the pencil.,

In the preferred form, the pocket clip includes a pair of arms embracing the housing of the pencil and extending through slots in the pencil housing into a channel formed in the exterior surface of the rotatable lead propelling sleeve and having a portion connected with the 'arms extending longitudinally of the pencil housing for gripping the users pocket.

The invention consists of the novel constructions, arrangements and devices to be hereinafter described and claimed for carrying out the above stated objects, and such other objects, as will be apparent from the following description of a preferred form of the invention, illustrated with reference to the accompanying drawing, wherein:

FIG. 1 is a sectional view of a pencil clip installed on an automatic pencil and incorporating the principles of the invention, with portions of the pencil being broken away; and

FIG. 2 is a sectional view of an enlarged scale taken on line 2 2 of FIG. 1.

Like characters of reference designate like parts in the several views.

Referring to the drawings, the illustrated pencil is of the type in my Pat. No. 3,408,147, issued Oct. 29, 1968, and the same reference numerals are used herein for describing the parts of the pencil illustrated in the drawings of this application that generally correspond to respective parts of the pencil shown in my Pat. No. 3,408,147, except for the sub-script 11 attached to the reference numerals in this application.

Referring to FIG. 1, the illustrated pencil may be seen to comprise an outer tubular housing or barrel 12511 having a tapered tip 13411, a tubular element or sleeve 12611 rotatably disposed within the housing 12511, a magazine 12711 for sticks of writing lead 12811, and a guide element 13011 fitting within the tubular element 12611 and forming a tapered lower end of the magazine 12711. An eraser 14011 extends into the tubular sleeve 12611 at its upper end and thereby closes the magazine 12711. The guide element 13011 extends through the lower tapered tip portion 13411 of the barrel 12511, and the guide element 13011 has a tapered writing tip 16011 which forms a continuation of the tapered tip portion 13411 of the barrel 12511.

In operation, the pencil is generally held in an upright 3,534,445 Patented Oct. 20, 1970 position, and sticks of lead 12811 are propelled from the magazine 12711 and downwardly through the pencil and through the lower writing tip of the pencil by rotating the upper end of the rotatable sleeve 12611, all as described in my Pat. No. 3,408,147.

The improved clip A of the invention not only provides a means for holding the pencil in the users pocket, but also provides a simple arrangement for holding the rotatable element 12611 within the housing 12511.

The clip A comprises a pair of arms 200 and 201. The arm 200 is made up of a relatively straight central portion 20011 and rounded end portions 200b and 200C. Likewise, the arm 201 is made up of similar portions 20111, 201b and 2011. The rounded portions 200b and 201b are joined by a clip portion 202 which extends longitudinally of the barrel 12511, and the portion 202 is provided on its end with a ball portion 203 which is in contact with the outer surface of the barrel 12511.

The barrel 12511 is provided with a pair of opposite slots 204 and 205 that extend completely through the barrel, and the sleeve 12611 is provided with a peripheral channel 206. The arms 200 and 201, and particularly the straight portions 20011 and 20111, lie in the slots 204 and 205 and extend into the channel 206 of the sleeve 12611 so that the rotatable sleeve 12611 is held axially fixed with respect to the barrel 12511.

The pencil clip A initially, prior to assembly onto the pencil, has the ends 200e and 201C of its arms 200 and 20111 in contact, and the clip A is made of resilient material such as sheet steel. The clip A may be mounted onto the barrel 12511 by spreading the arms 200 and 201 apart, against the resilient action of the clip tending to hold the arms 200 and 201 together, and bringing the clip and the arms 200 and 201 downwardly over the upper end of the barrel 12511 from the upper end of the sleeve 12611 and by then allowing the arms 200 and 201 to spring into and enter into the slots 204 and 205 and into the peripheral channel 206 due to this resilient action of the clip. In this assembled condition, the resiliency of the clip and particularly of the longitudinally extending portion 202, holds the ball portion 203 in spring contact with the external Surface of the barrel 12511 so that the ball portion 203 may be moved away from the outer surface of the barrel 12511 against the spring action of the clip in positioning the pencil into a pocket of clothing. For this function, the clip A when disassembled from the barrel 12511 preferably has the arms 200 and 201 extending at less than a right angle with respect to the clip portion 202, looking at the clip A in longitudinal section as it is seen in FIG. 1. The pencil clip advantageously provides not only a means for releasably fastening a pencil in the users pocket but also provides a simple means for holding the rotatable sleeve 12611 within the barrel 12511 of the pencil.

I wish it to be understood that the invention is not to be limited to the specific constructions, arrangements and devices shown and described, except only insofar as the claims may be so limited, as it will be apparent to those skilled in the art that changes may be made without departing from the principles of the invention. In particular, I wish it to be understood that although the clip is described in connection with the pencil illustrated in my Pat. 3,408,147, the clip may be used with other types of writing instruments.

I claim:

1. In a writing instrument, a barrel having a writing tip at one end of the barrel, a rotatable sleeve in said barrel, and a clip having a pair of opposite arms embracing said barrel and joined to a portion extending longitudinally of and along the barrel for overlying a pocket of an article of clothing, said arms extending through a pair of opposite slots in said barrel and into a peripheral channel in said rotatable sleeve for holding the rotatable 4VReferences Cited sleeve in the barrel.

. UNITED STATES PATENTS 2. In a writing instrument as set forth 1n clalm 1, sald clip being stressed against its own resilience so that said Re- 19,346 10/1934 Cuthbert 24-11 arms are springingly held in said slots and in said channel. 1,515,615 11/ 1924 POllak 401-75 3. In a Writing instrument as set forth in claim 2, 5 1,540,018 6/ 1925 Keeran et al. 401-75 said clip having a rounded end portion on the end of it 2,184,864 12/1939 Most 401 72 remote from said arms for bearing against the outer surface of said barrel and the clip being pre-stressed so DONALD A. GRIFFIN, Primary Examiner that the rounded end portion bears with spring pressure 10 against the outer surface of sa1d barrel. 

